Breaking Down The Week 20 AFC Championship Game Sacks Allowed Against New York Jets

The Steelers allowed 2 sacks Sunday against the New York Jets in the week 20 AFC Championship Game this past Sunday and we have the breakdowns of both of them below in animated gif form. If you click on any of the images, you can see the full size replay on NFL.com. If you missed are offensive line breakdown grading against the Jets, you can read the grades here.

On the 1st sack, pre-snap The Steelers have 3 tight ends in on this play. The Jets played much tighter coverage in the secondary in the second half and it shows on this play as the farthest player from the line of scrimmage is about 10 yards. The Jets are ready for the run and the pass in this situation. Heath Miller is put into motion and moves to the right side of the formation. A lot of the Jets success with blitz comes with the mass confusion that they try to create. The Jets are very good at fooling quarterbacks with multiple and disguised looks. For most of the game the Steelers offensive line did a very commendable job against the Jets but not on this play. The Jets on this play bring pressure with 4, usually on these types of blitzes Ben Roethlisberger is often able to step up and make a play but not in this case. For one thing the coverage in the secondary by the Jets is excellent. Bart Scott is able to get past left guard Chris Kemoeatu and create some initial pressure that forces Ben to step up into the pocket. Left tackle Jonathan Scott completely misses his block and Calvin Pace is able to zoom by and get a sack. Although Scott gave up the sack, Kemoeatu allowed Scott to get too much pressure on Ben allowing Pace to get the sack once Ben was forced to step up. Scott and Kemoeatu both share responsibility for this sack.

Sack #1 versus Jets

On the 2nd sack, pre-snap we see the Steelers with one wide receiver to the left of the formation and a banana bunch formation to the right with Isaac Redman and Heath Miller in the backfield as protection. This is essentially a max protect look by the Steelers. The Jets are playing tight coverage on the receivers and are playing two safeties back. Once again as on the previous play, speed from the edge this time on the left side allows the Jets to force Ben to step up and when that happens there are enough Jets to get to Ben Roethlisberger and sack him. Jonathan Scott allows Jason Taylor to blow past him at the line of scrimmage and this forces Ben to step up in the pocket. Once again as on the previous play the Jets come with 4 rushers. Trevor Pryce is initially double teamed at the point of attack by Chris Kemoeatu and center Doug Legursky. However Pryce fights through the double team and this combined with Scott allowing Taylor to get past him forces Ben to step up into the pocket where Pryce has an easy sack. I would place the blame on Kemoeatu and Legursky on this play